Passing Phase
by McManly
Summary: A day in the life of Owen and Cristina


Owen walks down the halls of SGH. It's a particularly crazy day in the pit at SGH. Traumas and Ors are filled to their capacity. He is taking in all his surroundings, wondering if he can do what he needs to do. Patient after patient, family after family, he treats them all with precision and apathy in the back of his head, something is pecking away all day. Everything , everyone is ten times louder and he can barely hear himself think.

A patient's mother, Mrs. Watson, is hysterical, comes up to him, "Dr. Hunt what is the news on Sean? Is he stable?"

Owen is shaken by her question, but replies, "Yes ma'am, he's out of surgery, he'll need a few hours to stabilize fully, but you will be able to see him before the end of the night. He's going to be fine."

"Oh thank you so much Dr.!, " the mother hugs Owen out of joy, but all Owen feels are the hospital walls closing in on him.

'Uh, ma'am, its going to be alright, I need to go check on your son now, I'll be back shortly," shaken Owen spins around, helpless, looking for a way out, but from where?

He sees Cristina at the end of the hallway, up against the nurses' station doing charts. His breath instantly relaxes as he watches her work. Something about watching her work just hypnotizes him. He makes his way over to her, in his usual manner, sneaking up behind her.

"Hey, post-ops?', he asks as he brushes up against her. He examines her profile, taking note of how her forehead wrinkles when she is thinking.

"Yeah Bailey's ped surgery for the triplets. Can you imagine having three toddlers? I think I'd kill myself," Cristina snorts, remembering when she took care of Tuck that one time, or at least tried to.

Cristina turns sideways, Owen looked over her profile, imagining for a split second how Cristina would look pregnant with their child, he smiles a little at the thought, and is startled when Cristina quickly turns to face him.

"What?", Owen asks, pretending not to hear what Cristina said about kids.

'Nevermind, you're someplace else obviously, " Cristina starts to walk away, Owen grabs the edge of her elbow she turns around again, knowing what his look means.

"I'd probably kill myself too with three toddlers, but one might be nice someday.. just one," looking her in the eyes, he caressed his hand down her shoulder, lightly cupping her hand.

Her beeper goes off, "Cardio. Dixon needs to prep for surgery, I have to go," Cristina stands there with Owen's hand still cupping her right hand her beeper in the other.

Owen looks at her, "Meet me somewhere when you get a chance. ' Unable to answer with words, she looks up at him in approval.

"Anywhere," Owen says as she quickly caresses his hand in return before she takes off.

Owen watches her as she goes down the hallway, her hair flowing in the same rhythm as her lab coat as she makes her way through the bustle of the pit. He realized how more real he felt, more than a moment ago, just from the sight of her.

"Hunt, I have a traum case, can you help me? This one is a killer," Karev is there out of nowhere, bringing Owen back to reality.

"Let's see what you got, " Owen agrees, figures anything to keep his mind off the craziness of this day the better.

"So what do you and Owen talk about?", Meredith asks Cristina as they sit in the cafeteria. Cristina's going for a salad and French fries, Mer is biting into a burger.

"What? We talk about stuff. Today he said something about kids though kind of weird," Cristina kind of spaces out ignoring Mer's annoying questions about mcbabies and Owen, rather Cristina imagines Owen as a father with their own toddler, which would obviously have to be a boy because she doesn't speak girl. She begins to smile a little.

"He wants babies? Do you want babies?' Mer asks as if they are in highschool.

"Um what do you think? Don't you know me? Though….I wouldn't rule anything out," Cristina looks down at her salad in a daze.

'Cristina! Do you know what this means?" Mer has that look on her face, the over the moon one.

"I just think that there are possibilities that I haven't even begun to think about with Owen. He makes me believe in things in me, in him, I never thought possible," Cristina looks at Meredith, "What??!?!?"

"Nothing, I just have never seen you like this. EVER. Not even with Burke. Its kind of… nice," Meredith smiles at Cristina, watching her devour her salad.

"Whatever, so when are you and Derek having crappy babies?", Cristina looks up from her salad.

"Ha ha you're funny, " Mer watches as Izzie and invisi-Denny arrive.

"Cristina what's wrong with your pig killer boyfriend?", She asks as she plops down next to Meredith with her food.

"What do you mean? Cristina perks up at this, in serious mode, not knowing what to expect.

"He's just being weird. Jumpy and out of it, kind of like a prey animal or something.," she gulps down some coffee and waits for an answer.

"I have to go," Cristina gets up leaving her food behind and Mer watching her go, puzzled.

Cristina wanders the halls on the search for Owen. Scenerios pop up in her head, like popcorn kernels hitting oil in a pan, one by one, then a mountain of them. She walks faster, panics, afraid of what she might find, or that she might be a second too late.

Finally she sees him. He's sitting alone on an abandoned cot in the hallway, looking down at the floor. The sight of him sitting alone, and calm makes her eyes well up a little. Relief takes over, but Cristina tries to hold herself together before he sees her and takes a deep breath.

"Hey, you wanna get out of here?", she asks now standing directly in front of him.

"I thought you'd never ask,' He gets up from the cot, as if he'd been sitting there for ages just spinning like a top.

"On-call room it is..", Cristina walks side by side down the hall with Owen she could feel him watching her as they walk together.

Finding the closest on-call room, Cristina walks in and hears Owen lock the door behind him. He takes off her lab coat, and his, and hangs them on the coat rack.

"Sit down," Cristina says as he's kicking his shoes off into a corner. He sits on the edge of the bed and she goes behind him and starts giving him a massage. She could tell that he hadn't gotten any sleep, at least not for a few nights. He sighs the way he does while he sleeps. Cristina smiles remembering how tranquil he is when he is sleeping, even after the darkest day.

"Your turn," Owen turns around, facing Cristina on the bed, her hair up revealing his second favorite body part of hers.

"How about a nap instead?' She looks at him, he wonders how she knows him so well , enough to know what he truly needs. In agreement, he nuzzles the bare part of her neck that he loves, running his hand up the other side. She wraps her arms around him, letting him kiss her neck. Both sit there embracing each other for a while before finally laying down on the bed. They get under the covers, Owen wraps his arms around Cristina like one of those old married couples and they both fall soundly asleep.


End file.
